Saw the first swallowtail butterfly this morning flying around my parsley plant which survived the winter. I have noticed in years past that swallowtails seem to prefer parsley for laying their eggs over any other plant. I stood a full five minutes, watching this swallowtail leave the parsley after depositing an egg and make a full reconnaissance of two of my neighbors' yards, disappearing behind one house and then reappearing, before coming back to this same parsley plant in my front garden. I suppose it is to their advantage to deposit their eggs in as wide a range as possible, hoping for the best chances of survival of some. But she found no other suitable hosts for the eggs, so returned to mine. The eggs will hatch in due course and become beautiful black, green, and yellow caterpillars which will feed and strip the parsley plant bare (as they did this same plant last year), before becoming cocoons to start the whole process over.
Here's one of the eggs this swallowtail laid (round white dot at the tip of the pink arrow):
A few other herbs bursting forth in the warm sun:
Mint:
Oregano, and chives in the corner:
Chive flowers about to bloom:
Spring has definitely sprung in the Carolinas.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment